MONTREAL - You know what I love? I love watching people do crazy things, and one of the craziest things people do is keep the old barbecue going all winter long. I mean, really, life isn’t worth living until you’ve seen your mitten-wearing neighbour flipping hamburgers outside in January. Denial comes in all forms, but the winter barbecuers really take it to the next level. So non merci to off-season outdoor grilling. Come fall, I’ve usually had my fill of beer-can chicken and pork tenderloin with grilled peaches, so I’m thrilled to wrap up the old Weber and call it a day.

To mark the occasion this year, I decided to go out with a bang and buy a Marc Bourg côte de boeuf. A what? Marc Bourg is the owner of a butcher shop getting a fair share of buzz: Boucherie le Marchand du Bourg. It’s a steak-o-thèque of sorts, a beef boutique located on Beaubien St. E., where the specialty is dry-aged, Quebec beef. And when we say aged, we’re referring not to the common, two- to three-week period, but to meat that has aged from 40 to 120 to 180 to 350 days. Meat aged one year? You betcha! As I mentioned, I love watching people do crazy things, and though aging meat this long may sound crazy, once you taste it you realize it’s an absolutely unique product.

Dry-aged beef is all the rage these days. Bon Appétit blogger Francis Lam reports that it’s the new restaurant trend throughout the United States, where you will find 140-day-aged steak at Eleven Madison Park in New York, or 8-month-aged steak at Mario Batali’s Carnevino in Las Vegas. Dry-aged meat is expensive (that Carnevino steak will set you back a cool $100), but when you stand in front of Bourg and watch him in action butchering an aged side of beef, you quickly see why.

As beef ages, the moisture evaporates, causing the carcass to shrink, which means its weight diminishes. When you cook a well-aged steak, don’t expect that usual puddle of bloody juices to accumulate underneath. And then there’s the loss. As the meat literally rots from the outside, the aged side of beef develops a thick crust, and even a layer of mould, all of which is removed by Bourg’s skilled hands. What’s left is the innermost part of the carcass, and the older the meat, the more concentrated the flavour.

Picture this: After one year of aging, a side of beef shrinks from 48 to 30 pounds. Sound dry? Or tough? Not so. As the flesh ages, the meat becomes incredibly tender, or as Lam describes it so well: “As the meat rests, enzymes that were contained in the muscles’ cells work free and become a kind of creative wrecking crew. They break down proteins into amino acids, including the ones that make for umami, so the flavour deepens. They turn the small amounts of carbohydrates in the meat into sugars, so the taste seems sweeter. And they weaken connective tissue around protein strands, so the meat becomes more tender.”

What’s interesting about Bourg’s beef is that, unlike a lot of this fancy aged beef making headlines, his arrives fresh as full carcasses directly from a local producer, which means it has never stewed in its own juices in a vacuum-packing bag. To Bourg, in even a small amount of time, a side of beef “marinates,” as he says, in plastic, compromising the dry-aging process.

So what to expect when tasting beef this aged? Though Lam’s article describes it as having a taste of gorgonzola, truffles, popcorn, Jamón Serrano, bread and butter, a soft cheese, and maybe even a hint of banana, I found it a bit different. The 120-day-aged steak tasted indeed like gorgonzola, plus prosciutto, foie gras — yes, foie gras — and damn good steak. And, yes, it was oh so tender. The 40-day-aged steak was marvellous as well. Perhaps a bit less “funky,” as Lam describes it, or less “livery,” as I would describe it, but certainly fork-tender, full-flavoured, absolutely delicious.

One of the keys to enjoying Bourg’s steak is mastering the way it is cooked. First of all, the steak must be room temperature when grilled. “If you can’t leave it on the counter for four hours before grilling,” he says, “you might as well not bother.” So I left my two-serving côte de boeuf, weighing about 1 kg (count $40/kg), on the counter for four hours as Bourg insisted. And then, over hot, lightly flaming coals, I grilled it for three minutes on each side (use a timer and don’t touch the steak while it cooks; it works perfectly), followed by an extra three minutes off to the side of the coals. Allow the steak to rest for exactly 10 minutes, lightly tented with foil, and then slice thinly and devour.

And what does one serve with such a magnificent steak? Gratin dauphinois (the posh name for scalloped potatoes), grilled zucchini (grill it while the steak is resting) and, for the wine drinkers among us, a bottle of full-bodied red wine. I sampled a dozen in search of one to pair with this steak, and my favourites were, first, from France, the Château Revelette 2011, $19.30 (SAQ # 10259737) and second, from Chile, the Marques de Casa Concha Cabernet-Sauvignon 2011, $21.95 (SAQ # 10694253).

Having forked over so generously for the steak, it’s nice to catch a break on the wine. And yet, with a steak this magnificent, we wouldn’t want the wine hogging the spotlight, now, would we? The only thing left to do, then, is prepare the potatoes …

The key with scalloped potatoes is to get the potato slices as thin as possible, and for that I use a mandoline, which is readily available at most department and kitchenware stores. Many recipes call for the potatoes to be baked from raw in the cream for a long time in a slow oven, but I prefer this method, which is faster and just as good. The cheese here is optional, but keep in mind, it adds an extra hit of flavour.

1 kg (2 lbs) Yukon Gold or Idaho potatoes, peeled and rinsed

Kosher or sea salt

1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced in half

2 cups double cream

1 cup whole milk

Couple branches fresh thyme

Large pinch nutmeg

Freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup grated Gruyère cheese

Peel the potatoes and slice finely (1 to 2 mm thick). Spread them out on a dish towel in a single layer and sprinkle lightly with salt. Preheat the oven to 325F. Rub the base and sides of a medium-sized gratin dish with the garlic. Bring the cream and milk to a boil in a large pot along with the garlic pieces and the thyme branches, as well as the nutmeg and a few grinds of fresh pepper. Reduce to a simmer.

Using a paper towel, blot the potatoes dry and slide them into the simmering cream. Cook the potato slices in the cream until they are tender, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the thyme from the mix and then transfer the potatoes into the gratin dish in an even layer. Pour over enough of the leftover cooking cream to cover the potatoes completely. Sprinkle over the cheese and place in the preheated oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the cream is bubbling lightly, the potatoes are cooked through and the top of the gratin is golden brown. Serve immediately.